Israeli start-up launches humanless customer service
Raanana-based start-up 7twenty aims to transform the customer service experience to benefit both individuals and enterprises, and is already empowering more than 350 enterprises across Europe.
By EYTAN HALONUpdated: NOVEMBER 12, 2018 11:04 7twenty CEO Yaniv Cohen. (photo credit: ILAN BASOR)
The days of waiting to speak to customer service representatives by phone, frustrated by repetitive hold music, may be coming to an end.Ra’anana-based start-up 7twenty aims to transform the customer service experience to benefit both individuals and enterprises, and is already empowering more than 350 enterprises across Europe in delivering innovative customer engagement.The company’s broad platform offers a range of live engagement, biometric, self-service and back office tools which permit increasingly seamless communications between customers and businesses.“One of the ‘sexiest’ platforms that everyone talks about today is the chatbot,” 7twenty CEO Yaniv Cohen told The Jerusalem Post.The company’s self-learning chatbot technology provides a one-stop shop platform that can even enable customers to take out loans and mortgages without interacting with a human customer service agent. Customers include Isracard, Colmobil and French document and credit institution Tessi SA.The company’s platform relies on a three-factor authentication process featuring biometric identification to ensure that the customer is a real person and not a robot – a verification process with increasing importance following the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation earlier this year.“Most of our competitors only provide platforms for chatbots or biometric facial recognition. We are the only company that does everything in one platform,” Cohen said.The key to the success of 7twenty’s solution, Cohen says, is based on public demand for more time-efficient and personalized customer service experiences.“Every invention in history came from social needs and not because of any other need. People like to consume their services in their own way. You can supply the best technology, but if it’s not adopted by the public, it will not survive,” Cohen said.By digitizing the entire customer service process and its many channels beyond the chatbot platform, companies benefit from easily-gathered data providing a greater understanding of customer demands and behavior.
To date, 7twenty has remained in private hands and focused on organic growth. As its 40 employees conclude a year of record sales, the company is poised to commence a first round of financing to accelerate and expand activities.“Everyone is talking about digital in many ways. Deals are large but competition is tough, we’re competing with the biggest in the market,” Cohen said. “We’re a small company from Ra’anana, but we’re facing up to the challenge.”
